Flint mayoral race remains between Walling, Clack after recount

Stuart Bauer | The Flint Journal Darryl Buchanan (center) watches as a ballot tabulating machine is brought into the recount area of the Genesee County Administration Building by County Clerk Michael Carr (left) and Ed Goggins during a recount Friday of the Flint mayoral primary ballots.

FLINT, Michigan -- Election workers recounted ballots in the Flint mayoral election by hand Friday but when they finished, the results that mattered most remained the same.

Genesee County Commissioner Brenda Clack, D-Flint, held onto her second-place finish, winning the right to take on Dayne Walling in the August election.

Former Flint City Councilman Darryl Buchanan, who requested the hand-recount, remained 15 votes behind Clack -- the same margin he trailed after a machine count on election night.

Walling gained two votes, Greg Eason gained one vote, and Sheldon Neeley lost two votes in the recount.

The Genesee County Board of Canvassers unanimously agreed to conduct the hand recount Friday morning after two other mayoral candidates -- Neeley and Eric Mays -- joined Buchanan in asking for it.

Buchanan raised questions of improprieties in the handling of some ballots and questioned the number of votes.

"We just want to clarify this process to ensure every (vote is counted)," Buchanan said. He could not be reached for comment after the count Friday.

A computer glitch in a precinct on the city's east side initially left out the votes of about 200 residents. It was fixed the morning after the election, and as a result, Clack picked up a vote.

Buchanan originally asked for the recount on the basis of that problem, but later said there were possible irregularities in voting on the city's north side as well.

Four people have come forward and said there were problems in processing their ballots, according to Buchanan.

During Friday's recount, election workers also found a problem, discovering ballots from one Flint precinct had been left inside a voting machine. Four precincts could not be recounted because of other problems, including numbers assigned to seals and poll books not matching.

County Clerk Michael Carr said none of the candidates filed official challenges to the results of the hand recount.

Carr said the ballots that were left inside a voting machine should have been sealed in a box for that precinct but were instead left inside the locked machine, which was kept inside a secure room in Flint City Hall since the election.

Carr said the city of Flint would have to pay the cost of the recount, which he estimated at $4,000.

Board of Canvassers member Alexander Isaac said he felt the hand recount was justified because there were questions about the original count.

"There is a split in the community about some of the concerns," Isaac said. "I'm hoping this will put an end to those concerns."